


Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky

by Seaward



Series: What Started in a Box [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 11:46:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seaward/pseuds/Seaward
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After "Beyond the Box," John in another universe is left with many questions and no Rodney.  A trip to Earth leads to some explanations and greater confusion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to The Guy for reading an early draft and to Elayna for helping with a later draft. Any remaining flaws are mine (or are intentional idiosyncrasies based on Czech). Title comes from the Pete Seeger song "Little Boxes."

John wondered if he was fully tracking. One minute he was joking with Ronon. Then Carter was standing in the hall telling him, "Your father suffered a heart attack last night." He remembered that like a gut punch, except he couldn't quite remember the punch landing.

Next thing he knew, John was standing in front of the Stargate with Radek Zelenka who informed him, "Carter wants me to meet with Dr. Jeannie McKay. She thinks you could convince her to come to Atlantis. So now we both go to wake and then to Area 51." John wasn't sure if he replied or even nodded.

This sense of staccato disconnect wasn't new to John. When he failed to rescue Holland in Afghanistan, he found himself flying helicopters in Antarctica and could never quite reconstruct the chain of events in between.

Now he was driving a rental car down familiar roads to the house where he grew up. Next to him was the Czech scientist, whom John had barely known a few weeks ago, before he started thinking about multiverses and realized someone had been lost that he'd never known in his universe. John had expected everything to go back to normal, or what passed for normal in Atlantis, once he used the Ancient remover device to undo the damage and separate his universe from the one with the (now restored) missing person. But the feeling that he'd known Radek better (when he was both himself and John from a parallel universe) lingered, as did vague implications about his Sentinel lover, the person who'd been lost from the other universe and never existed in John's.

Now John's father, who hadn't communicated with John for years, was dead. John was driving to his wake.

John could recognize the edge of falling apart, but he'd ridden that edge before and doubted anyone would notice he was there this time either. People talked about "turning on the charm" or "acting casual," but sometimes John thought the important parts were invisible anyway.

As they rounded the circular driveway, Zelenka asked, "This house, you were raised here?"

John glanced at the sprawl of building and saw mostly the white trim and white fences. "Among others."

"Is nice."

"I couldn't wait to get out of here."

His brother Dave greeted them first. Appropriately, the smell of horse manure carried on the breeze from the stables. "I wasn't sure you'd make it. I contacted your unit commander, Peterson, but messages don’t always get through."

"Came as soon as I heard. This is Dr. Zelenka."

"You two work together in the Air Force?"

"He's a civilian contractor."

" _Right._ Your ex-wife is around someplace, too."

John pulled Dave aside, leaving Zelenka blinking in the sun.

"Look, I know you don't approve of me, but leave Zelenka out of it. He's here on business and just got dragged along."

"Your business is no affair of mine, besides 'don't ask, don't tell' was repealed, I hear."

"Like that changes everything overnight. By the way, it turns out I test as a Guide. Any idea how that never showed up when we were in school?"

"Father always protected you, whether you appreciated it or not."

"It wasn't me he was protecting."

"What's your level of expectation here?"

"You think I'm here for his money? To challenge you for the company?" John shook his head, released his brother without another word, and walked back to Zelenka who was trying out appetizers. John didn't remember the people after that, people who shook his hand and talked about his father.

On the plane to Nevada, John could barely stand not being the pilot.

Inside Area 51, they were left in a conference room to wait. A lieutenant told them the McKays were wrapping up an unexpected project. Zelenka fell asleep with his head on the polished wood table. John couldn't stop thinking about how alien his family and everyone at the wake seemed and about the lingering wrongness of lemon cake.

The McKays burst in, and Zelenka startled awake. John unfolded himself casually and stood to offer his hand, "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard."

A middle aged woman with brownish blond hair and tired eyes smiled back. "Dr. Jeannie McKay, pleased to meet you."

The man behind her said, "Rodney McKay," without shaking hands, then turning said, "You must be Dr. Zelenka. I read your ideas about collapsing parallel universes, and they are wrong, wrong, wrong."

"Mer," Jeannie said. Then she turned back to John and Zelenka. "Look, we're just back from two days with no sleep. Why don't you come stay the night at our place by the lake, and at least some of us might be more civil in the morning."

"We're taking them home?" Rodney flailed a hand in Zelenka's direction. "He's not that smart." He gestured at John with the other. "He's not that good looking. They're not stray puppies. I'm sure the military will provide them with housing here."

It looked like Rodney McKay was ramping up for what might be a spectacular tirade, but Jeannie cut right through it. "Then we'd have to come back first thing in the morning to meet with them."

Rodney let out a huff. "If you put it that way… Don’t think this means I agree." But he gathered two laptops from a desk and led everyone out the door.

In the car, Jeannie drove and Zelenka fell asleep in the seat behind her. John wasn't sure he'd ever sleep again or when he'd last slept, but he leaned his head forward, against Rodney's half reclined passenger seat. He closed his eyes until his headache receded, until he thought he could smell a familiar glycerin soap with a hint of aloe.

-

Rodney knew Jeannie was up to something. Her heart rate had increased as soon as she'd heard Dr. Zelenka and the Colonel were waiting for them. It had to be important if it could get that reaction after two days hacking encryption and tracking replicators. (Even if Stargate command insisted the human created nanite entities were not actually programmed to replicate, Rodney was determined to call them replicators, because of the source technology, and because it was obviously a better name.) Replicator problem solved, all Rodney had wanted was the calm predictability of their home.

The fact that Jeannie had so casually invited these strangers over must mean something. Probably Jeannie was scheming with Colonel Samantha Carter. Rodney was cleared for everything Jeannie knew, because she insisted on that so they could work together, even if he had no status, being a Sentinel who refused to work with a Guide. He'd done over half the work on the ZPM power research that led to their recent clearance to know about Atlantis, the Ancient remover device, and Carter and Zelenka's theories that were wrong, wrong, wrong.

But Zelenka didn't seem bothered the way Jeannie was. It was trivial for Rodney to extend his senses and know by heartbeat and breathing that Zelenka was truly asleep in the backseat. The Colonel wasn’t asleep. He was leaning up against Rodney's chair, his head inches from Rodney's at the top, his breathing and heartbeat regular, but he was just resting there. He didn't seem stressed, although he had a sour smell as if he'd been stressed recently and hadn't showered since. Beneath that he smelled even better than he looked, but Rodney didn't let his mind go there.

-

The next thing John knew they we at the McKays' house, being shown the rooms on the first floor. From the entrance it went: coat closet, linen cupboard, bathroom, guest room.

"You don't mind sharing, do you?" Jeannie asked.

"No problem," John said.

"Is lovely," Radek answered. They both dropped their bags just inside the guest bedroom.

"You both look about as wiped as Rodney and I are, but I'm going to heat some leftovers before we turn in. You're welcome to join us."

So they made their way across the expanse of the great room, all wood floors and exposed wooden rafters, to the side that served as a kitchen. A sliding glass door at the end showed a lake view, although Groom Lake was really a salt flat. Still, the effect was more that of a vacation rental than off base housing.

Rodney was already microwaving chicken and pulling macaroni and cheese from the refrigerator. "You," he jutted his chin at Zelenka, "plates and glasses are in the cupboard in front of your face. You, Colonel, can set out silverware, drawer by the sink. Jeannie, why don't you handle beverages? Then you can tell me what's really going on here, and then we can all get some sleep."

They had the table set and were seated in no time. Rodney dumped a heaping scoop of macaroni on his plate, and told Zelenka to, "Start explaining." Then he shoveled food into his face as if he hadn't eaten in years. John thought it should be disgusting, but instead he was fascinated by Rodney's mobile mouth and the appreciative sounds he made in the back of his throat as he took his first bites.

Zelenka raised his eyebrows, but seemed more amused than annoyed by Rodney's brusqueness. "I gather you've both been cleared and briefed about Atlantis." Zelenka waited and Jeannie and Rodney nodded. "Then you know we used some of your research to design a quantum detector after the Ancient remover started collapsing our universe with another." Two nods and he continued, "Colonel Samantha Carter wants to follow up to see if the remover device could be converted to a power source. Also, she's proposed plans for a gate bridge to save power, improve security, and increase transit between Earth and Atlantis, so she invited you to relocate to Atlantis to work with us."

"What?" Rodney asked. "You never mentioned—" he was shaking his fork at Jeannie, "That's what you weren't telling me. I won't stand in your way. However much of an ass I may be, I keep telling you, I won't hold you back."

"I'm not going anywhere without you," Jeannie said. She put down her knife and fork and stopped eating. "I told you from the start that I didn't want to work for the government if they weren't going to acknowledge and pay you."

"Which shows a deplorable lack of ambition, as they're your only chance to work with wormhole data or alien technology."

"It took them two years to give you clearance to work with me here, for free! I said no to Carter, because they're never going to let you go to Atlantis. I'm not going without you, and I still think we should work elsewhere, anyway."

John kept eating, trying to act as if he'd known Carter had already invited them to Atlantis and been turned down. He couldn't imagine how someone would end up working for free at Area 51, or how Rodney could be cleared to know about Atlantis, but not to go there.

"But Carter has solution," Zelenka said into the lull. "It turns out, Colonel Sheppard is a Guide."

Rodney slammed his chair back from the table, and shouted, "Never." He pulled the collar of his turtleneck down with both hands to show five parallel lines tattooed above the collarbone on each side of his neck. "You know they knocked me unconscious and put me in restraints when they did this? They stole my life, and I am never working with a Guide."

Rodney stormed upstairs still shouting, "Those imbeciles may not acknowledge my genius. They may treat me like a dog and keep my name off publications. But they can't force me to work with anyone I don't want to." A door slammed, and there was silence.

"Sorry about that, but you can see how he feels, and I am not moving to another galaxy without my brother. He's the only family I have, and this is the only way anyone will let him work. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll tidy up and call it a night."

As soon as she left the room John asked Radek, "Why wasn’t I told?"

"Carter didn't want to intrude on your grief. She figured it would either work out or it wouldn't."

"Seriously? The guy obviously hates Guides, and what's with the tattoo?"

"You do not know that they mark Sentinels here, in Canada, in most of Europe and Asia?"

John shook his head, and Radek looked down at his nearly empty plate.

"Five lines to warn people that he may pick up more than they think with five different senses. In Russia he would not have been allowed to cover those marks with collar or scarf, no matter what the weather. My country, after we won our independence, we banned the practice. You in the 'home of the free' do not even know? Here," Zelenka pulled out an electronic device. It looked like Earth technology, but it wasn't quite like any computer John had ever used. It was small and flat, with a tiny keyboard just below the screen. The Czech rapidly typed and clicked through screens. "This is a search engine. Type in words like 'Sentinel tattoo' or 'Guide legal rights' and see what you get."

Then Zelenka took their plates to the kitchen and left for bed.

-

Rodney heard the whole discussion from his room as he changed into pajamas. It barely even required Sentinel hearing. At first waves of anger rolled across him: for being set up, for Jeannie not telling him, for the stupid Colonel not knowing how badly Sentinels were treated. But as Rodney lay awake, listening as another very tired person typed a few words at a time into a search engine, he remembered how Zelenka had said, "It turns out, Colonel Sheppard is a Guide." That suggested the Colonel had only recently found out. While that didn't excuse him for being willfully ignorant before, it meant something that he was staying up all night trying to educate himself now.

Near dawn, Rodney heard the man creep into the guest room, gather something, possibly changing clothes, and then leave out the back door. He would have thought the guy was giving up and heading back to Area 51, but his footfalls outside suggested running away on foot. Rodney pulled a robe on over his pajama pants and went out to the dining table. He found the data pad unsecured and not even turned off—stupid, but totally predictable. He looked through the search history to see what the Colonel had been studying.

When Sheppard came back through the sliding glass door, he was sweaty and mopping his face and back with his shirt.

Rodney stayed where he was, holding the data pad, sitting in the chair where the other man had spent the night searching.

"So, do you think I deserved it?"

"What, the tattoo?" Sheppard was breathing hard and the rise and fall of his chest was distracting. Rodney looked back down at the device in his hand.

"Oh, don't pretend to be stupider than you are. I read your search history. You spent the night finding out that Sentinels can't hold any reasonable job without an assigned Guide standing by to assure they don't zone and endanger themselves or others. I can't rent an apartment without someone promising in writing to check on me like a house pet. I can't have a driver's license or sole custody of a child. And what did you think of the page you found specifically about me? Do you believe I have the highest IQ score ever verified or that I somehow used my Sentinel wiles to cheat on the test? Do you think I should have been expelled from grad school solely because I didn't admit to being a Sentinel on my application, because I didn't let them tattoo and restrict me voluntarily? They never would have accepted me in the first place if I'd been honest, you know?"

John dropped his soaked tee shirt on the ground and walked to the glassware cabinet. He got himself a glass of water and sat across from Rodney with the chair turned around and his arms crossed over the back. "Look, McKay, I get why you're pissed, and maybe the best answer for you is to refuse to work with a Guide. Obviously, I've had a lot less time to think about this than you have. But before you start ranting at me again, you might want to ask if I know anything you don't."

Rodney did his best to glare, but when he looked at the Colonel's eyes he saw blue and brown and green and gray, and it was all he could do to tear his own eyes away and not zone. "I'm sure, _Colonel_ , that you know many fascinating things about military procedures, Atlantis, and probably a favorite sports team that you would like to enlighten me about. But do you honestly think anything you could tell me will change the very well researched decision of the smartest man on the planet?"

-

John watched Rodney pretend to glare at him across the table and wondered if the man's insecurity was as obvious to everyone else as it was to him. It probably didn't matter, because the anger could keep anyone out. "Probably not, because I don't think you're going to listen."

John watched Rodney open his mouth to protest and then rise to the challenge to prove he could listen. His mouth turned down in a half frown, and for some reason John wanted to kiss him.

"Here's the deal. You know the report you read about the Ancient remover device that deleted someone from Atlantis in a parallel universe and almost collapsed our universe and theirs? While the universes overlapped, I overlapped with the version of myself in the other universe. I knew things about Sentinels and about science that I hadn't known before. I knew about being a Guide for a Sentinel who wasn't stupid or defenseless." John had to close his eyes to finish. "That Sentinel was a scientist and went to other planets with my gate team. He was about my height and used the same soap you do. So there's just one thing I don't know. Do you have a serious aversion to lemon cake?"

John opened his eyes to see Rodney's mouth open and close again, like a turtle. Whatever he'd been expecting from John, this clearly wasn't it. "I'm deathly allergic to all citrus."

"Well, congratulations." John tried to summon sarcastic charm and guessed that he missed by a mile. "In another universe, you live in Atlantis, I'm your Guide and quite probably your lover, and even without knowing you, I risked my life to get you back there." John stood and picked his shirt up off the floor without meeting Rodney's eyes. "I think I'll go shower now."

-

Rodney couldn't help listening to the sounds of John in the shower, the glide of soapy hands over skin, the scratching of fingers through all that crazy, sticking up hair. The man might be his Guide and his lover in Atlantis, in a parallel universe. Much as he hated the politics of being stuck with a Guide and the stereotype of Sentinels and Guides as lovers, he couldn't help feeling a little jealous of the other Rodney.

When John came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and his sweaty clothes in hand Rodney asked, "Think you can sleep now?"

John shook his head and half smiled, "Probably not. I'm just going to sneak in and grab my stuff from the guest room.

"I can lend you a pair of sweats."

John raised his eyebrows.

"Hey, I'm not that overweight."

"For the record, not what I was thinking."

"Come on." Rodney led John upstairs to his bedroom and quickly found a pair of sweats with a drawstring.

"Thanks," John said. Then he turned his back and changed right there in Rodney's room. His ass looked even better than Rodney had hoped, and he couldn't help but hope a little.

"I don't suppose you'd be up for a little experiment," Rodney asked.

"Are you propositioning me?" The look on John's face as he turned back around was more surprised amusement that indignation.

"Maybe later," Rodney tried to sound more casual than he felt, but it was hard when he could hear John's heart racing. "Look, it's six a.m. already, and I'm pretty sure neither of us has slept much the last night or two before this, either. I have a nice bed here." He waved his arm in the vague direction. It was in fact a king size bed with an ergonomic mattress and 400 thread count sheets. "I have a theory that we could both sleep better here."

"Does this line usually work for you?"

"First trial, but I'll let you know in a minute."

John shrugged and climbed into one side of Rodney's bed, still wearing the sweatpants he'd borrowed.

Rodney turned off the light and hung up his robe. He could still see perfectly well, from just the light that crept around the blackout shades on his windows, but he felt a bit self-conscious about John seeing him. If John was really his lover in some parallel universe, Rodney suspected his alternate self was in better shape. Then again, this John had just climbed into his bed on what was almost the day they met, and even his outline under the covers was hot.

As Rodney lifted the sheet on the other side, he asked, "You're not Atlantis' answer to Captain Kirk with some new conquest of every planet, are you?"

"No, Rodney, the closest I've come to sex in Pegasus was some glowy thing with an ascended Ancient, and I don't want to talk about that."

"Oh, so clean bill of health then."

"Yes, Rodney. Anything I should know about you?"

"Sadly, no. Can I touch you, now?"

"It's your experiment."

Rodney shifted closer and reached out a hand. He touched John's shoulder where it showed above the sheets. John shivered at the contact, and the vibration seemed to pass through Rodney's whole body. Suddenly, Rodney couldn't remember the last time he'd touched skin on anyone but Jeannie. He couldn't remember if it was supposed to feel like this. John was warm and solid and his skin was surprisingly smooth, but there was something else.

Rodney wanted to pull back, fearing that what he felt was a link between a Sentinel and Guide. But he'd meant it about wanting to experiment.

"Did you read enough to know what to do if I zone?"

"I read a lot, but I don't know what to believe. I read the military guidelines back on Atlantis, and I didn't believe some of it, because…"

"Because of what you remembered from the alternate you. I don't suppose you learned anything about being a Guide from that experience?"

"I don't think so."

"And I've refused to work with one, so I don't know firsthand either. Jeannie's not a guide, but she can usually get me back from a zone by squeezing my hand and talking to me. Sometimes she strokes my wrist." Rodney knew he also tuned in on her scent, but John smelled so good to him, he was worried he could zone on that alone. For all his research, Rodney was starting to think there was more to Guides, or at least more to some Guides, than he'd wanted to believe.

"It would be more than a little embarrassing for me to bring your sister in here."

"Were you planning to sneak back in with Zelenka before either of them wake up?" Rodney couldn't help himself, he started to stroke John's arm. The feeling of the hair, the wrinkled elbow, the smooth skin inside the elbow—It was almost too much already. He took a deep breath to calm himself and was filled with the scent of John, clean and kind of spicy, warm and a little aroused already. That snatch of scent made Rodney more than half hard, and he leaned closer, so he could stroke along John's ribs. He brushed a nipple and suddenly John's whole body was rigid.

"Should I stop?"

"No. Can I kiss you?"

"Yes."

-

John rolled so he was face to face with Rodney and slipped a hand behind his neck. He brushed their lips together, and Rodney groaned. Most of what John had done with guys hadn't involved kissing, but he had a suspicion that Rodney had done even less. The way Rodney touched him was driving him crazy, and not just because he moved as slowly as a teenager on his first date. Well, if his first date involved loaning a guy sweatpants and inviting him to bed.

John touched his tongue to Rodney's lips, and Rodney's mouth sighed open. He licked behind Rodney's teeth and along his tongue and Rodney pressed up against him, warm and needy. John had to slow himself down, or it would all be over in under two minutes.

He stroked along Rodney's arm as he kissed and nuzzled his way across Rodney's jaw and down his neck. Rodney moaned as if they were fucking, and John had to ask, "Are you alright?"

"God, yes," Rodney gasped, and the responsiveness made John want to explore his lover's reactions even more. He remembered the sense of being touched all over in his dream while the universes overlapped. He'd never had anything like that in real life, but he wanted to give that to Rodney.

It was easy to roll Rodney onto his back, to rub the length of their bodies together as John licked and kissed Rodney's collar bone, explored Rodney's surprisingly solid arms with his hands.

When John's mouth found Rodney's left nipple, Rodney groaned loud enough it startled John. He worried for a moment that Jeannie and Radek would hear, but Rodney was practically writhing beneath him, and John didn't want to discourage him in any way. He tried sucking, licking, and flicking Rodney's nipple with his tongue, and Rodney started thrusting up into him.

He slid his hand into Rodney's pajama bottoms and felt Rodney tense and shiver at the first touch to his cock.

"Oh. Wait." Rodney's hands fumbled with John's sweats, trying to pull them down. John kept his hand loose around Rodney's cock but moved his mouth to suck and tease Rodney's other nipple. He could feel Rodney momentarily lose track of what his hands were trying to do, and he made a game of seeing how long he could keep Rodney fumbling with his pants by teasing his nipples. It turned out to be quite a long time.

Finally, when Rodney had managed to push both sweatpants and pajamas down to their knees, he pushed and squirmed until their cocks were thrusting against each other. John shifted his loose grip to hold both their cocks together. From Rodney's startled whimper, he'd bet the scientist had never done this before. Then he remembered that Rodney was a Sentinel and might be experiencing everything five times as strongly as John was, and just the thought had John tightening his grip and pulling like he meant it. Rodney came within a dozen strokes, and John followed right along with him.

John slid to the side panting, and as his thoughts came together he spotted the box of tissues on the nightstand and cleaned them both up. Rodney was still on his back, his entire body limp as a blanket.

"You okay?" John asked.

"Great. Sleep now?"

John pulled each of their pants the rest of the way off and then pulled the covers up as he lay back down. Rodney pulled up beside him, threw an arm across John's chest and buried his face in John's neck. John fell asleep without another thought.

-

Rodney woke with his face buried in the hair at the top of John's neck and his body spooned up behind John so every square centimeter possible was touching. He tried to tell himself sex with this Guide wasn't the best thing ever and didn't believe it for a minute. If John knew—but John didn't have to know, not yet. They could just have amazing sex and deal with the rest later.

Rodney wondered if they could stay in bed all day, and decided probably not. A glance at the clock told him it was almost noon. No matter how tired they'd all been and how much Jeannie and Zelenka must have figured out, he probably couldn't hide in bed past a reasonable lunchtime. Besides, he was kind of hungry.

He licked his lips and eased back to look at the body he'd been spooning. Lying just a foot away, the covers forming a tent between them, Rodney could see perfectly the muscles of John's shoulders, the trail of vertebrae down his back, and the curve of John's ass. He carefully reached out to touch John's side, and heard a slightly stronger inhalation, but after that John's breathing and heartbeat were the same as before, steady and asleep.

Rodney let his hearing drift out. He could hear someone typing at a keyboard. It was Jeannie. He could recognize the slight click of her nails now and then. She wasn't talking, but Rodney could hear the rustle of papers a few feet away from her, so that placed Zelenka on the sofa. Experimenting a little more, Rodney listened for sounds around the lake and heard birds and car engines. He listened back toward the base and heard the gate guards checking ID. He suspected the military wouldn't appreciate him listening in on the guards, and it was enough to know that the experiment had worked. He couldn't have heard a tenth of that before. Then he brought his hearing back to baseline and focused on John's heartbeat, pleased that he hadn't zoned either.

Running his hand down John's side to his hip, Rodney realized again how much he liked the smell of John, and the fact that he smelled like sweat and sex from a few hours before pulled like tension wires through Rodney's body right to his groin.

Tracing down to John's thigh, Rodney ran his hand along the smooth outer side and then up the hairy front, back down brushing the hair the right way, and then up the very soft skin on the inside of John's thigh. This caused John to roll onto his back with his thighs spread, which was so hot that Rodney experimented with sliding his finger and nails to all points on John's thighs, varying his touch from barely there to the way he'd stroke a cat. He watched as John grew hard and started to squirm just the tiniest bit, all without waking up. Rodney studied which touches induced which reactions and then let his hand drift to John's perineum and sack. That caused a beautiful twitching in John's hips, but he was also starting to wake up, so Rodney took the chance to shimmy down and give John's cock a slow, wet lick.

John made a sound between a groan and a sigh as his flavor spread across Rodney's tongue. Rodney experimented with a flat tongue or a pointy tongue, straight lines and patterns, until John hissed out "Rodney" and fumbled a clumsy hand through Rodney's hair.

Now that John was more or less awake, Rodney took the tip of John's cock in his mouth and began experiments in position and suction and some further licking. The taste was intense but pushed all Rodney's buttons. John's movements and plays to control the pace offered lots of feedback, but Rodney finally had to hold John's hips down in order to keep testing his hypotheses. His jaw was getting sore, but he wanted to see how long he could keep John that turned on.

-

John woke up to the memory of having been touched, maybe not all over, but along his back and side and all around his thighs and groin. It was like his first dream of the Sentinel, except as he woke up this time, the Sentinel was giving him a blow job. At first John thought Rodney just lacked experience, because he seemed to try every possible way of using mouth and tongue on John's cock. Then he remembered Rodney's pick up line the night before about experimenting, and he realized that however inexperienced Rodney might be, he was making a thorough study of how John reacted to everything he tried. The thought seriously turned him on, and John wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing. A few minutes later, when John was certain Rodney was trying to tease him as long and in as many ways as possible, John thought the scientist just might drive him insane.

"Please, Rodney, please."

Rodney kept right on with what he was doing. He tried humming and swallowing. John really tried to be a good sport and not to thrust or force his way off his back. Rodney was holding his hips down with considerable weight, and John was actually starting to worry he would lose control and use combat training because he needed to move. Then Rodney sucked John very deep into his throat. His fingers were looped at the base of John's cock, working in concert with the sucking, but it sure felt like Rodney was swallowing John right down his throat. Just like that, John was coming and coming. Rodney was swallowing. Everything flashed bright white behind John's eyes.

By the time John could feel his body again, he could also feel Rodney's hand moving beside him, trying to finish himself off.

"Wait. Let me." John slid down to take Rodney's cock in his mouth. He wanted to tease and show Rodney some of what it had been like building up to that overwhelming orgasm, but Rodney was already shivering desperately. John felt too good to deny Rodney anything, so he took him deep and fast and just tried to draw the orgasm out as long as possible when Rodney came, panting and groaning like it was the best thing ever.

John lay back beside Rodney, arms touching, both catching their breath. John realized that strange as it was, his thoughts had been orderly and tracking since he met Rodney, in a way they hadn't been before. He'd also confirmed that this Sentinel, like the one he'd rescued for the other universe, kept his nails neat and short, and John had reason to appreciate it.

"We really should go down for lunch. I smell cornbread and chili," Rodney said.

John couldn't smell anything but sweat and sex. He smiled at the unexpected perk of sleeping with a Sentinel: advanced lunch intel. He said, "Shower with me?"

Rodney sighed. "You know there's no chance I'm getting it up again for at least another hour."

"Amazing as the sex might be, other things could be, too."

"If you expect me to be cheerful about clean up," Rodney huffed, "I'll need coffee first. Probably even that won't be enough. I'm really not a morning person. You see—"

"Come on, Rodney. Save water; shower with a friend."

Rodney gaped at him with a humor-the-stupid-person stare, but he let John lead him by the hand to the shower. Then Rodney took over adjusting the temperature to his liking, and John soaped up his hands and started sliding them up and down Rodney's back, then around in circles and up onto his shoulders. He remembered his shower imaginings and stepped forward, pressing up against Rodney's back as he ran soapy hands through Rodney's chest hair.

He knew he'd chosen right when Rodney relaxed back into him. But when he worked his way down to Rodney's belly, he felt the man tense. John stopped moving and just held on. "What's wrong?"

"I know I'm probably not what you're used to."

"I doubt you're what anyone's used to."

"I mean, I know I've gotten out of shape."

John started moving his hands again and pulled Rodney tighter. "You say this after we had sex twice in less than six hours? Right now, I have no complaints." He slid his hands along the creases between legs and groin and felt Rodney relax again. John went with it and tried to let his hands communicate his appreciation without teasing for something neither of their bodies needed right now. Amazingly, Rodney relaxed more, and John thought there was more to showering together than he'd realized.

-

When Rodney leaned against that shower wall, watching John lather his way down Rodney's legs to his feet, he wondered if it could all really be happening. He thought about alien devices, virtual realities, hallucinations. Then he decided that with the limited data available, he might as well go with it. He took the soap in his hand and pulled John up for his turn. Rodney stroked with the aloe-glycerin soap in his right hand and followed with his bare left, letting his sense of touch drift up as he mapped and memorized every change in texture, every scar and fold. It felt like something intrinsic to his Sentinel instincts, and yet he'd never had this before. The opportunity to touch and know every detail his Guide—no, a Guide, he didn't want to start thinking of John as his guide, no matter how much he hated the thought of letting him go.

John reached out a hand to his face. Something must have shown, and he wondered what John thought. People told Rodney he was easy to read, but since they never seemed to understand him, he wondered what parts they thought they saw.

When John didn't speak, Rodney asked, "Hair?"

John nodded. Rodney rubbed a squeeze of shampoo between his palms and then worked his fingers through John's hair. It was softer than it looked, and there was a slightly different smell, beyond the shampoo, that came from John's scalp, slightly different from the rest of his body. When he circled his fingers above and around John's ears, John closed his eyes, and Rodney felt him relax. Without thinking, Rodney brushed his lips across John's, and John smiled.

Rodney stood under the spray, bodies pressed close, as he rinsed John's hair. Then John took the shampoo and started on Rodney's hair. Where Rodney's fingers would normally reach the back sideways, John's raked up and down. It felt so much better, and Rodney decided he'd try to move his own fingers that way next time. He wondered how many more times he could have this with John. Then John returned his light kiss from before, and Rodney said, "I didn't know it could be like this."

"Me neither, even though I imagined remembering it when the universes overlapped."

"How did that work?"

John shrugged, still massaging his fingers across Rodney's head. "Like de ja vu maybe? Like the smell of grass reminds me of sun on my face, even if I can't remember a specific day or place? Here, rinse."

And they were back under warm water, eyes closed. Rodney felt every drop tap his skin, felt the warm smoothness everywhere John pressed against him, smelled John/water/clean. He wanted to stay there, maybe sleep some more standing there, focused only on touch and smell. But John eventually turned off the water. And Rodney could hear Jeannie moving around the kitchen.

-

John tried to dry Rodney with one of the heavy fluffy towels, but Rodney took it from his hands, putting a few inches of distance between them. So John dried himself off, watching Rodney in quick glimpses and trying not to be too obvious. He was caught between wanting all he could get and wondering how Rodney had gotten to him so fast.

Then Rodney said, "You want to pick out a tee shirt or something?" He pulled out a middle drawer on the right hand side of a large dresser.

John sorted through the tee shirts, which all had snide science comments or diagrams on them. He'd never worn anything like that, but part of him liked the idea of wearing Rodney's clothes. He felt like he'd returned to a phase he'd skipped in high school. Finally, he pulled out a black shirt for himself that said, "It's only rocket science." He slid a blue shirt that read, "Astrophysicists do it with a big bang," as a suggestion to Rodney. Then he saw Rodney standing uncertainly with a turtleneck in his hand.

John glanced at the five tattooed lines on each side of Rodney's neck, wondering at how he'd barely noticed them in all the time they'd spent naked together. "I'd rather see you in the tee shirt," John said.

Rodney sucked in his lower lip and wrinkles formed between his eyes. "I don't usually wear them anymore, just to sleep sometimes. I probably shouldn't have kept them, but—"

In the tense expression, John could read the memories of better times, times when Rodney was seen as a genius and not a Sentinel. Suddenly John understood more about Rodney's story than he had when the Sentinel yelled about his tattoos last night. He wanted to pull Rodney close and comfort him, but thought that might read as pity. So he canted his hip against the dresser instead, and with an exaggerated glance through his eyelashes said, "I'd really like to see you in the tee shirt."

Rodney's pupils widened before he glanced away with a dismissive huff. But he set down the turtleneck and wore the tee shirt John had chosen.

When they walked down the stairs, Radek glanced at them long enough to nod and then returned complete focus to the small computer he'd lent John the night before.

Jeannie took a longer look, and John was uncomfortable until he realized she was looking at Rodney, particularly at his bare neck. When her eyes shifted to John and she smiled, he felt like he'd won her over in one fell swoop.

"Ready to eat?" Jeannie asked.

"It smells great," John answered as Rodney grabbed a skillet of cornbread from a cooling rack and carried it to the already set table.

Radek set his computer aside as they all descended on the table, and soon everyone but John was eating rapidly and arguing physics even faster. John knew he had a strong science background for an Air Force officer, but he didn't even try to keep up. The idea of a gate bridge sounded good to him. The specifics of dialing protocols and wormhole alignments got him thinking about DeLoreans and JetCars.

Meanwhile, he enjoyed the chili, which tasted great, but nothing like the chili he'd grown up eating. Jeannie's chili wasn't super spicy, possibly in deference to her Sentinel brother, and it included a lot of vegetable other than beans, like carrots, celery, mushrooms, and some bits he thought might be leeks. The cornbread and honey butter was the best he remembered ever tasting, and he wondered if Atlantis had dulled his memories of Earth foods. He wondered how a Sentinel would deal with the constant influx of new food from Atlantean trade but reminded himself that whatever he'd read about Sentinels being vulnerable and dependent, he hadn't seen any of that with Rodney so far.

When the others shifted to ideas about drawing power from other dimensions and studying the Ancient remover device, John said, "Don't we already know that device is too dangerous? And wouldn't there be problems with exotic particles or something?"

Everyone looked at him. "Why do you say that?" Jeannie asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Rodney was the person removed from the other universe, which means he was probably working with the device when it happened. I don’t know if they were exploring it as an energy source, but when Zelenka and Carter were building their quantum detector, I thought exotic particles might be a problem."

When Jeannie and Rodney just gaped at John, Zelenka explained, "John was most aware that something had changed. Without his pushing, we would not have built quantum detector or discovered remover. He seemed to possess some knowledge from his alternate self. However, when he mentioned exotic particles, we didn't know what he meant and didn't really have time to investigate." Then the Czech turned to John and said, "What makes you think it was other Rodney McKay who was removed?"

John started ticking points off on his fingers. "He's extremely allergic to citrus, hence both of us avoiding the lemon cake. He's a scientist and a Sentinel, which fits the quantum detector evidence for who was most out of sync. He uses glycerin aloe soap and keeps his fingernails very neat and short. Also, well, other stuff that I'm not going to spell out, but I'm very certain he was the missing person."

Rodney smiled shyly from across the table, and John's face felt warm.

Jeannie's eyes darted back and forth until she said, "So in this other universe, you think you were Rodney's Guide."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how much it was like here. He definitely traveled with my gate team, and I don't think it was just to be with me. It seemed like scientists did that there."

Zelenka shook his head and said nothing. John wanted Rodney to express an opinion, ideally a desire to be on John's gate team, but instead he said, "I can see how exotic particles might be generated if we tried to draw energy from another universe. The whole physics might be different, but we could probably work around that. Let's go get the white board."

As everyone got up John started clearing dishes. Jeannie said, "You can leave them."

John replied, "Really, that's probably all I have to add."

It turned out the scientists spent the entire afternoon in heated discussion while filling the living room with a white board, a flip chart, and scattered papers and computers. John mostly watched Rodney, enjoying the way he waved his hands and bounced on his heels. When John started to get hard just from watching, Rodney winked at him from across the room, and John remembered how he'd imagined something like that before. He ended up sneaking to the guest room to change into jeans, just to make such things a little less obvious. He also took the time to shave, and left all his things together in his bag right by the guest room door.

When the excitement of the scientists only escalated as the sun went down, John started poking around the kitchen, wondering if he should make dinner. He found pork chops and corn on the cob, and he decided he could manage that.

-

At dinner, John sat beside Rodney and sometimes moved his foot or calf so they touched. It was electrifying, and Rodney wanted to play with raising his sense of touch, but knew he'd keep pushing himself until he zoned, so he didn't let himself start. Instead, he listened to John and Radek tell stories of Atlantis, and he imagined the other him living there. He wanted and was jealous, but he kept on listening to their stories. Then John said, "If you came, I'm sure Carter wouldn't expect me to be with you in the lab or anything. Off world, we always have someone military assigned to each scientist, so you wouldn't be treated differently from anyone else."

"John," Rodney said, "I told you, I can't go. Whatever you think Carter would be like, I won't have an assigned Guide, even as a formality. Did you understand what you read last night? I'd lose all my rights to privacy. You'd be able to make medical decisions for me, even overrule me when I was conscious and competent. You could effectively put me under house arrest any time you wished. You'd have right of refusal on any work or educational opportunities offered to me."

"Because you're drowning in offers right now?"

Rodney was surprised by the remark, and he literally kicked himself for it, moving his legs where John wouldn't touch him anymore. He was used to cutting remarks, but this one felt like a tear down the length of him. He'd let John get too close, started to trust him, and now he was surprised when he shouldn't have been.

-

Rodney's glare could have silenced half the Marines on Atlantis. John realized he shouldn't have joked like that, but he also knew better than to show how much the look hurt him.

"Listen, I can't defend our government's rules on this, but I'm sure we could reach some compromise, and you can trust me. I'll stand by whatever we agree to. Try to understand, I'm the military commander of Atlantis. I suspect I could put a lot of people under house arrest or overrule their decisions on a lot of things. The point is I don't. Life is dangerous enough in Pegasus without wasting any of the abilities we have. Don't you want to give it a try at least?"

"Don't talk to me like that. I'm the smartest man on the planet, and as of yesterday, you didn't even recognize what these tattoos meant." His voice was rising to real anger. "There is no conceivable way that someone with the relative IQ of a house pet compared to me is going to have the legal authority to treat me like their pet. EVER. As for this idealistic notion that I should trust you enough to follow you to another galaxy, a galaxy you admit is DANGEROUS, forget whatever you read about Sentinels bonding to Guides or being irresistibly drawn to claim and protect them. I am never going to trust anyone that much. I am a rational, scientific being, and I DON'T NEED YOU."

"Fine," John said. He gave half a shrug and took another bite of his pork. He could practically see the steam pouring out of Rodney's ears at John's lack of reaction, and he was glad. Rodney had just ripped apart everything John had been hoping for, probably what he'd been secretly hoping for since the incident with the remover. John had agreed to do everything he could to meet Rodney's terms, and that still hadn't been good enough for the man.

Radek, obviously disturbed by the angry silence, said to Rodney, "Perhaps you could have an assigned Guide only part of the time, for certain work. Sometimes there are such arrangements, no?"

"Ignorance! I am surrounded by idiots." Rodney waved his hands upward, almost knocking his plate from the table. "The US government, and most of their allies including my homeland of Canada, will not employ a Sentinel without a permanent assigned Guide, nor will they allow one to live on a military installation. They seem to think we need watching at all times to make sure no one uses our 'weaknesses' against us to obtain military secrets."

"So they assign them minders. I understand," Zelenka said with a cold edge to his voice. "But then, how do you have the same security clearances as your sister and work with her at Area 51?"

"Because so long as they don't pay or house me, they can work around their own regulations, and in case you missed it, I happen to be the smartest man on the planet. Even the military industrial incomplex recognizes that, whatever they say. I could have won a Nobel, and instead they ruined my life so I work for free with no credit."

"Also, I refused to work without him," Jeannie put in. Then she glared at her brother, "Otherwise, I would have happily gone elsewhere and they'd have neither of us."

"If they agreed to this here," Zelenka nodded, "Then with Sheppard and Carter on your side, perhaps agreement could be made about Atlantis."

"Never going to happen." Rodney spoke between mouthfuls as he rapidly cleared his plate. "None of us have the political connections to broker that sort of a deal. Don't you understand, I've thought through all the options, and I'm smarter than you!" Then he picked up his plate and left the table.

John had no response to that, so he said, "I think I'll go for a run."

-

Two hours later Rodney was still angry but tired and close to bursting a blood vessel. John was out running in the dark someplace and hadn't come back. Radek had come up with a strong argument that the exotic particles John had mentioned were real and unavoidable, despite Rodney's efforts to prove otherwise. Jeannie was also arguing against him on the science, as well as hinting that John was the best chance he'd ever had, and that he was a fool to let it go. The problem was, Rodney half believed her, and that made him even angrier.

Finally, Radek and Jeannie declared they were going for a walk, partly to look for John, and Rodney was preemptively not invited to join them.

Rodney was running simulations on two computers trying to disprove Zelenka's arguments, when John came in the front door dripping sweat and with blood on one hand. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing, I passed Radek and Jeannie on my way back. They said they needed more time away from here."

"Away from me, you mean."

"Yeah, it's all about you."

With that, John grabbed his bag and headed into the downstairs shower. After a few more minutes of running simulations, Rodney conceded that Zelenka and Jeannie were probably right about the exotic particles still being a risk, no matter what. They were probably right about John being the best chance he'd ever get, too. But they were wrong to think he should accept John as his Guide. He would come to hate John then, and that would be worse than not having him at all.

Rodney closed his computers and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Once he'd brushed his teeth and changed into pajama bottoms, he meant to close his bedroom door and turn off the lights. Instead, he found John's sweaty clothes from before they had sex that morning. They stank and should never have been left in a Sentinel's room. Rodney picked them up thinking he'd throw them downstairs, but disgusting as it was, the smell caught him. He ended up sitting on the floor, zoning on the smell of John's old sweaty clothes.

-

John meant to go to bed after he'd washed up. He told himself he was just stopping by the kitchen for a glass of water. But on his way to the sink, he saw the open door of Rodney's room at the top of the stairs, and the light streaming out. His insides twisted in a way even he couldn’t mistake for anger, and John headed upstairs to apologize, duffle bag still in his hand.

When he saw Rodney sitting on the floor with his nose buried in John's stinky clothes, he knew something was wrong, and for a moment he panicked. Then he realized it was a zone out, like he'd studied the night before, and he just wanted to help Rodney without pissing him off any further. He dropped his bag just inside the door and went to sit next to the Sentinel. He whispered, "Hey, Rodney, can you hear me? Listen to me for a moment." He put his hand on Rodney's back and rubbed in small, calm circles. "Hey, Rodney, it's okay. I'm here with you. I came to apologize. You've only known me a day, and whether I have the relative IQ of a house pet or not, I should have thought a little more before I spoke."

Rodney shuddered and lifted his head to look at John. After a moment of obvious disorientation, he set down the dirty laundry he was holding, and tried to sound annoyed when he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize."

"Oh, well, that's okay then." Rodney sniffed and lifted his chin.

"Should I bring your slippers now?"

"Huh?"

"Isn't that how house pets apologize?"

"You understood that I was comparing the ratio of my intelligence to yours and yours to a pet, not saying you had the intelligence of, say, a dog."

"Yeah, I got that. I've taken statistics and calculus, too."

Rodney squinted at him, "Why did you choose the rocket science tee shirt?"

"Well, you know that when I fly Ancient spacecraft there's a mental component, right? So I figure that's sort of like studying rocket science. Also, I have a masters in aerospace engineering."

"You do?"

Rodney smiled at John like one of them had just won a prize. John raised a single eyebrow and nodded.

"Can we have make up sex now?" Rodney asked.

John stroked his hand up from Rodney's back to his neck and kissed him until they both needed oxygen.

Rodney's pupils were blown, his breathing fast, and his mouth wet and shiny. He said, "John, will you fuck me?"

John's cock reacted like it was the best idea ever. His brain froze, locking the rest of him down. "Uh, wow, but, sort of mixed messages here. We've known each other one day, you shouted across the dinner table that you didn't need me or trust me, and now you're asking me to fuck you?"

"Yes, I really, seriously want you to."

It was hot. Rodney was hot. John wanted to fuck Rodney. He wanted Rodney to fuck him, eventually, if this lasted, if it wasn't some sort of vacation hook up where Rodney would just turn him away the next morning. "Have you done this before? Do you know what kind of trust is involved? Or are you seeing this as some sort of punishment thing?"

"Yes, I've done it, once. And seriously, do I seem like the type who would be into pain or punishment?"

John was gesturing to indicate you never could tell, but Rodney cut him off with "I want you to do it because everything we did together so far was amazing, and I really want to do this in case you don't give me another chance."

"Me, give you a chance? You're the one who was saying no to everything before."

John pulled away and Rodney jumped on him, kissing him and sliding his leg between John's. When the kiss ended, John was a bit dazed, and Rodney was talking, mouth inches from John's, breath warm on his face. "I know, but that's different. That I can't have. Let me have this. I really need to do this."

"Why?" John asked, something still seeming off to him.

"Because you are hot," Rodney said as he pulled off his robe and then John's shirt. "You are the hottest person male or female who's ever expressed interest in me, and I want to make the best of it while it lasts. And yeah, the Guide thing might have something to do with why the sex is so amazing, but I think you'd be good at this anyway. Is that enough, or do you want me to talk dirty to you?"

Rodney was pressed against him, chests skin to skin, his hands starting to unfasten John's jeans.

"Look, I know you're a genius," John said, "And I'm totally hot for you, so if you really want to, you can probably talk me into this. But it isn't something I'd do casually, and I'm really getting the idea that there's more to this than you're telling me. So since you're the genius, and I don't think you actually want to take unfair advantage, tell me what I'm missing."

"Seriously!" Rodney threw his arms up and paced across the room. "We're half naked. I'm practically begging you to fuck me, and you come up with an argument that can actually work on me? And I don't even know why that worked. I am not a touchy-feeling, talk about it sort of person. You almost make me reconsider all that mystical bond, Guide and Sentinel mumbo-jumbo. But fine, the only other time I tried it turned out to be a terrible mistake, the worst mistake of my life. And it's still something I always wanted, and I thought with you I could have this at least, before you go away."

Rodney was still pacing, waving his arms around like semaphore was the only language that could express enough, and John sat frozen, watching. "What do you mean the worst mistake of your life?"

"The idiot who talked me into it sent me into a zone out. Then he reported me, and I got kicked out of grad school and branded as a Sentinel."

"And you were going to have me fuck you without telling me that? Do you even think you can do this without freaking out much worse than zoning?" John was breathing fast for reasons totally different than a moment before.

"I think it will be different with you. I need it to be different with you. I didn't even like him."

"Why did you let him fuck you then?" John practically shouted.

Rodney didn't answer and wouldn't meet John's eyes. All of a sudden the fire went out of John.

"Rodney, did you want him to fuck you?"

"Maybe? I was flattered he wanted to do something with me. He wasn't the nicest person, but he was way better looking and more popular than I was, and I was only nineteen."

"In grad school, nineteen, right, genius." John pinched his nose trying to pull himself together. He was probably the least qualified person on the planet to deal with emotional stuff like this, but Rodney had chosen to tell him. From the expression on Rodney's face, he might not have told anyone else this part either. "Rodney, I'm really sorry any of that happened to you, and I am really pissed at whoever that guy was. I get that you want to move past it and have a better experience, but we don't need to rush into this. I don't need to leave tomorrow, and there are lots of things we haven't done that I think you might like better."

"John, I understand." Rodney didn't look like he understood. Rodney looked like he needed a hug, possibly from his sister. "You're a really nice guy, and you don't want to trigger anything bad. But if I do zone, you've already shown you can bring me back. Once again, this is something I've had lots of time to think about. This is the perfect opportunity, and if we wait, I'll just worry all the time that you'll get called back for some emergency before we have another chance. Besides, Radek and my sister are making out on the back porch now, which is making me seriously jealous, and it also means they aren't going to notice any noise that we make."

John had barely a second of thought to spare for those making out on the back porch. He needed all of his attention for Rodney. "Being a genius doesn't mean you can always get your way."

"I know, but I'm right about this."

"But I have to feel right about it, too."

Rodney stopped pacing. "Oh. I wasn't trying to pressure you, I mean, not like that. I thought you wanted to."

"I do want to, with you, I just—This puts a lot of pressure on me to get it right, you know? And I really didn't expect this tonight."

"Right. I hadn't really thought about that part." Rodney's pacing and hand waving were slowing down, while John still sat on the floor. "While I've imagined having another chance a lot of times, I'd never actually imagined telling anyone about the first time. Now you know, and you're right that it was only fair that I tell you, all things considered. How about if we just start over and if it works out that you want to fuck me, then trust me that I really want you to and I don't want to wait. But if you don't want to, I'm sure we can find plenty of good things to try."

With that, he dragged John over to the bed and jumped him again. They were two kisses in when John noticed that Rodney had made time to shave at some point. They were still both a little rough, and the feel of Rodney's face rubbing against his in between kisses made John absurdly happy. Maybe Rodney could dismiss or rationalize around the Sentinel-Guide connection, but John couldn't even compare what he was experiencing to his reactions with anyone else. He wasn't sure what exactly they would end up doing together by the end of the night, but he was pretty sure he was in love with a Sentinel scientist he'd only met the day before, and he was going to do the best he could for him.

To begin with, he removed Rodney's pajama pants and then his own pants. Rodney kept kissing him and stroking his chest no matter how he shifted, seemingly guided only by the hand he kept on the back of John's neck. John wondered if there was some Sentinel trick to that.

When they were both naked John went for all the skin contact he could get, pressing their fronts together as his hands explored Rodney's back and ass. He traced fingers between Rodney's ass cheeks, and when he brushed the hole, Rodney shivered and moaned like he was dying to be touched there. That much John was sure he wanted to do. He broke away from Rodney's increasingly wet and dirty kisses to manage one word, "Lube?"

Rodney managed to manhandle them both across the bed and keep kissing John until they were within reach of the nightstand. Rodney's eyes were open, as they always seemed to be, but they didn't telegraph his movements. It was as if the hand that had been stroking John's chest had search and recon skills of its own to find the lube, bring it back, and press it firmly into John's hand.

Then Rodney was on top of John, pressing and grinding, while John struggled to get lube onto his fingers. He ended up spilling some on Rodney's back but just used that as an excuse to trace down to the crack between Rodney's cheeks. When his fingers slid across Rodney's hole again, the scientist rolled his hips in a way that pushed their cocks together and then pushed Rodney's ass up against John's fingers.

John rolled them both over and moved his mouth down Rodney's neck, nuzzling as he went. Rodney made the most amazing sound, somewhere between a complaint and a whimper. Then John circled his fingers around Rodney's hole and the scientist hummed deep in his throat. It was the sexiest noise John had ever heard. He slid down to lick Rodney's nipple and at the same time poked a finger the tiniest bit into Rodney's ass. The hum grew louder and there was no resistance to John's finger, so John poked in further and started to explore. He found Rodney's prostate and was rewarded with a roar.

It was so tempting to keep stroking where Rodney wanted it most, but John wanted to do better than that. He circled and teased with his finger, and moved his mouth to the other nipple.

"More, please," Rodney whispered.

John slid in another finger and Rodney started pushing himself down, twisting until he found the perfect angle, then panting and moaning as he fucked himself on John's fingers. Rodney's cock was weeping by this point, so John slid down and took it in his mouth, not doing much, just letting Rodney move himself forward and back.

"More," Rodney groaned, and John felt around for the lube, added a little more, and slid in a third finger. At that point Rodney was shivering with desire and losing his rhythm. Rodney's eyes were still open, but they looked glossy and dark, and John knew he couldn't hold off much longer. So John took over the rhythm and finger fucked and sucked until Rodney started whimpering and then came in a long pulsing stream into John's mouth.

It felt good, so good, to feel and see Rodney coming and then melting into a blissed out puddle. John watched him, wanting to absorb every nuance of Rodney in that state. His own cock was starting to hurt from holding off so long, but he needed to wait and see what Rodney needed, and he was torn between his own desire and a caring, responsible feeling he barely knew how to think about in this situation.

Then Rodney's eyes met his, and he knew what they were asking without any words.

John moved his hand experimentally, felt how completely relaxed Rodney was around the three fingers still inside. Stroking and scissoring a bit to be sure, John kept himself from asking in words, knowing Rodney was trying not to ask again out loud. It was written all over Rodney's face. So John slicked up his cock and slid in easily but slowly, eyes locked to Rodney's the whole way. He bottomed out, balls to balls, and Rodney smiled as if it was everything he'd ever wanted. John couldn't move for a while because he didn't trust himself not to come just from that smile.

Then John took a deep breath and started thrusting slowly. He lifted Rodney's ass a little and gradually adjusted their positions, trying to hold Rodney's gaze as well as he could, knowing that was also part of what Rodney wanted. When he found the right angle Rodney's mouth opened and let out a wet noise like he didn't know he could feel that. John leaned forward to kiss him, working to keep close to that perfect angle, and he felt Rodney's cock harden a little against him.

John found it easier to keep going with the goal of feeling Rodney come with him still inside. He kissed whatever he could reach and kept Rodney's eyes in focus as much as possible. Finally, when he didn't think either of them could last much longer, John wrapped his hand, still somewhat wet with lube, around Rodney's cock and stroked in time as his rhythm sped up.

A flush spread across Rodney's whole body until he came again in John's hand. As soon as Rodney had ridden through his second orgasm, John came as well. He basked in the afterglow for a few moments, then he carefully pulled out and managed to lie down beside Rodney, wrapping an arm and leg over him, before he fell asleep, completely spent and exhausted.

-

Rodney slept until nine the next morning and woke feeling well rested and happy. Then he realized what he was hearing and decided he needed more distraction. He kissed John along his neck and collar bone until John's hands moved to stroke along Rodney's back and sides.

"Morning," Rodney said.

"Hey," John blinked and then looked over at Rodney. "You doing okay?"

"Never better. Seriously. Except my sister and Radek woke me up, and I need a distraction." He pressed hard against John in case he missed the point.

"Is this going to happen every time you hear people having sex? Maybe you should dial your hearing down for a bit."

"Even with your hearing, you'll hear their bed thumping if you're awake long enough. Besides, she's my sister!"

"And aren't you happy for her?"

"Yes, very, but that doesn't mean I don't want whatever I can get."

John leaned over and kissed him. It was a comfortable and easy kiss with morning breath, but still pleasantly distracting.

Then John said, "So if I'm going to sleep with a genius, then you should help me figure stuff out, right?"

John's hands kept moving across skin in a pleasant way as they talked, and while Rodney was turned on, he didn't need to rush things, so he played along. "Well, you seem to have the mechanics pretty well figured out; did you want me to consult on the optimal frequency?"

John gave him a friendly swat on the ass, and Rodney responded with a teasing snap of teeth to the nearest body part, which turned out to be John's ear. Then he had to lick John's ear, which made John wriggle in a way that could have been either sexual or ticklish, so Rodney started experimenting.

Eventually John turned his head so they were kissing instead, and by the time John spoke again, Rodney was in a very positive and cooperative state of mind.

"Here's what I think you could help with," John said. "You know all about Sentinel rules and laws and all about your own situation, AND you've been told at least the basics about Atlantis and my situation, AND you've spent the last, what, 36 hours enjoying about the same perks of us being together as I have. So how about if you use your monster brain to come up with the closest to a reasonable plan for both of us, even if you think there are some parts we can't get."

"Then what?"

"Then we apply what I'm good at."

"Sex?"

"Improvising—in seemingly hopeless situations." With that, John leaned down to tease Rodney's nipple with his tongue, while sliding a hand down to tease Rodney's balls.

"Yeah, maybe you are good at that," Rodney said. To himself, he thought John might be smarter than him in some ways.

-

By the time Rodney dragged his ass downstairs in his "Paradigms: Shift Happens" tee shirt, he had not one, but multiple answers to John's question, and a chart with their rank orderings for different qualifications.

John, in tight jeans and an obviously well loved black tee shirt, had dough spread across the counter and cut into circles that he was placing on a cookie sheet.

"Breakfast?" Rodney asked with more than a little bounce.

"More like brunch. Have you ever tried biscuit dough?"

"Wouldn't that have raw eggs and therefore possibly salmonella?"

John smiled as if he'd expected the complaint. "I used the carton of pasteurized egg beaters in your fridge because I'd already put all the eggs in my cream cheese and chives scramble."

Rodney beamed happily at the egg dish on the stove as John popped a finger with biscuit dough into Rodney's mouth. The finger was gone before Rodney could appreciate it properly, but the texture and taste of the dough was surprisingly pleasant. "It's sweet."

"Yup. I made coffee, too."

Rodney took the mug John poured and watched appreciatively as John bent over to put biscuits in the oven. "You cook, too."

"Only four or five things, but I don't count eggs, pork chops or corn as cooking."

"So biscuits and what else?"

"You'll have to wait and see." John snuck a kiss between Rodney's sips of coffee.

Then Rodney waved the chart he'd drawn. "I thought about what you asked, and I made a weighted values table."

"Of course you did." John leaned on the counter next to Rodney to look. "Why don't you start with your top answers in the most important categories?"

Rodney ignored the slightly sarcastic tone and went into lecture mode. "Okay, logistically the easiest might be to get me hired by the science portion of the expedition, then petition for an exception to the military rules, which I think has almost no chance of working, so logistics is a problem. Politically, my top choice would be a repeal of all the limitations on Sentinels, national or military, but a second choice of revoking the military requirements would serve our purposes. And personally, I guess we could have Jeannie hired and petition to bring a family member with the necessary exceptions to military rules, but there's really no political precedent for any of that for a sibling, so it has a snowball's chance in hell, to quote a chemist theologian. Or my personally preferred and slightly less implausible solution would be to get a spouse exception to the military rules if we were married."

John turned his head and raised his eyebrows, "Is that your idea of a proposal?"

"More of a meta-proposal, actually?"

"Well, you certainly aren't getting anywhere with that."

John dusted some flour off his hands, diverting his eyes from Rodney's.

"You mean—" Rodney hated to admit this wasn't something he was a genius at, but he could hear how John's heart was accelerating and feel the warmth radiating from John's face, neck, and beneath the fabric of the tight, thin shirt he was wearing. Rodney slid his class ring, the only ring he wore, off his finger and palmed it. He set down his coffee and went down on one knee. "John Sheppard, would you marry me?"

John was looking at him seriously. Looking down at Rodney's kneeling form, John's eyelashes seemed incredibly long and Rodney could actually see John's pupils expanding and his face heating up. Then John laughed, and he said, "I'll tell you later."

Rodney stayed where he was and held up the ring, trying to twist it to catch the light.

"Your college ring? Undergrad, I assume? Which college?"

"MIT."

"Not bad." John's casual stance shifted, and Rodney could hear both of their heartbeats speeding the same. "Okay, yes."

John held out a finger. The ring went on easily, a little loose, and then they were kissing until the timer on the oven beeped and John broke away to pull out biscuits.

-

By the time Jeannie and Radek wandered down for brunch, Rodney was ensconced at his computers and John had biscuits, condiments, eggs, and fruit set out on the table. This time John was the one to make a quick glance and nod, and Rodney was the one studying his sister and finally smiling. John wondered if Radek had borrowed any of Jeannie's clothing, but seeing nothing visible refused to speculate.

"You started it," Jeannie said to her brother. Then she turned to John and the table full of food and said, "You've been busy."

John held up his hands and wiggled the finger with Rodney's ring on it, and Jeannie's jaw dropped.

"You did not!" Jeannie swooped across the room to pound her brother's shoulders playfully while shouting, "Mer, tell me what this means!"

Radek followed in her wake, messing his hair for the first time that day.

Rodney said, "You're smart enough to figure out an engagement ring!"

At the same time John said, "Mer? What's Mer stand for?"

"Meredith," Rodney said. "Maybe I'll change that part when I get married. I'm keeping the McKay. Can we eat now?"

"So you won't take a Guide, but you will marry a Guide you met yesterday?" Radek asked, still rubbing at his hair.

"Day before yesterday, no one's forcing me to marry him, and honestly, I don't lose nearly as much autonomy as a spouse."

"Not mine to understand. Congratulations."

Just as they sat down, there was a knock at the door. Jeannie went to answer it, but they could all hear the courier say, "Is there a LTC John Sheppard here? He needs to sign for this."

-

Rodney watched John pull out of his chair with boneless grace and flow easily to the door. He signed, glanced at the envelope, then tossed it aside as he and Jeannie returned to the table. His steps seemed a lot heavier on the way back.

"What was that?" Rodney asked.

"Something about my father's will. I'll look at it later."

"Will?" Rodney asked. John wasn't meeting anyone's eyes and seemed suddenly intent on spreading honey butter on a biscuit.

Radek answered instead. "Part of why we used gate to bring both of us now—We attended the funeral party for John's father before we came here."

Rodney thought about John's first sleepless night in the living room and all the things he didn't know. He shifted his leg to touch John's, and John looked at him with half a smile.

"So anyone have useful connections in Canada?" John asked.

Everyone stared at him.

"Eat. I'll explain. You see, Rodney made a list of proposals, and the one I'm working with right now involves us getting married, and Rodney's Canadian, right? So Canada is more comfortable with gay marriage and they're the oldest member of the IOA that's not on the Security Council, so the way I figure it, the big players like Russia and the UK wouldn't mind backing a Canadian request if it played against some US influence in the Atlantis Expedition."

John stopped talking to eat, seeming to think everyone could put two and two together from there. Rodney was well aware that people rarely reached an intended sum, even as simple as four, on their own, so he took over. "What he's saying is that if we get married in Canada, either Canada or the US could permit the exception for a spouse to move to Atlantis and be exempt from the military rules about Sentinels living in military installations, and each of country has incentive to do so before the other approves it."

Rodney felt John's foot stroke up his calf and almost didn't want to mention the next part. "However, we've had a lot of trouble with the Office of Homeworld Security blocking exceptions before. If this does turn ugly, John, you might need to transfer to the Canadian military. Canada might even insist on it, depending on how things go. If this isn't a bluff, are you ready for that?"

John smiled around a biscuit, "Homeworld Security has jurisdiction at Area 51 and the SGA, but not in Antarctica and Atlantis. For the rest, I don't think I could turn my back on Earth for you, and I really don't want to give up Atlantis, but my duty to the US and the military has always been about the people, not the higher ups, and it's not like the US and Canada are likely to declare war on each other any time soon. Now, does anyone know who the Canadian IOA rep is?"

"Nigel Bertard," Zelenka answered.

"Him? How do you know that?" Jeannie asked.

"My country does not have its own representative, and I was raised where knowing who was in power mattered. Do you know him?"

"I know about him. I might know someone with some tenuous connection, but we just don't have that sort of political clout."

"I could call someone too, who might have influence there." Zelenka shook his head, not looking optimistic.

"So today we all make phone calls and arrange a wedding in Canada. Any plans for our honeymoon, Rodney?"

Somehow John's teasing made Rodney want to come up with the best honeymoon ever, even if he doubted they'd have time for one at all. Besides, he had no one to call as the others tried to form some sort of political coalition.

-

The next day they flew to Canada for their wedding. It was supposed to be a simple, civil affair, but one of the family connections John called had insisted on hosting the ceremony. John wore his dress blues, freshly cleaned since the wake. It turned out Rodney owned his own tux, and to John's eyes, it looked great on him. "You are so hot in that," he whispered as they walked towards Teddy Lampert Junior's front door.

"Don't think dirty talk and dress blues will distract me. Who the hell's house is this, and how did you pull it off?"

Even John could hear Jeannie stifle a giggle behind them.

Radek muttered, "He did not pull anything off. It took all us."

"All three of you, perhaps."

"All our connections, but your knowledge and determination."

"Huh. I hadn't thought of it that way." Rodney said. John liked the soft smile on Rodney's face, but it turned into a smirk when he asked, "Now who's Teddy?"

"Well, Teddy Junior is the first boy I ever kissed."

"I hope you're not trying to make me jealous. Keep explaining."

"I think we were twelve, and I'm pretty sure neither of our fathers had a clue. They're both utilities moguls and retired military, but I knew the Lampert's company was in Canada, and I figured I should get something for shaking all those hands at the wake. Besides, Teddy's pretty obviously flaming, and I thought he might find a last minute gay wedding amusing. I didn't expect he'd want to host it."

They knocked on a heavy wooden door and were greeted with hugs and kisses all around by Teddy Junior. He led them to a room full of windows and flowers and introduced them around. Teddy Lampert Senior was chatting with a couple of mutual family friends who'd seen John at the wake, and John assumed they were local and the Lamperts had invited them. Then Teddy Junior introduced "Nigel Bertard, a friend of my father's who happened to be in the area, and his associate Richard Woolsey who is traveling with him."

Surprised by two members of the top secret IOA attending the wedding, both the McKays and Zelenka became uncharacteristically quiet. John fell back on early training and said, "Pleased to meet you. Glad you could join us."

Both men smiled, and Bertard nodded. "I'm sure you and your new husband will be very happy."

"It takes a village."

Bertard and Woolsey both squinted at John in the same uncomprehending way most of his COs had in years past.

Then John's brother came over, so John introduced him to everyone.

Dave Sheppard's first words to Rodney McKay were, "Are you another civilian contractor?"

"No, but I'm a genius, and I love your brother very much."

John heard Radek stifle a giggle at that exchange.

Dave took it with better grace than John expected and said to John, "I didn't think you had it in you, but this and your terms for the inheritance make me think you might have some political instincts after all."

"I hope not," John smirked, "But if I provide incentive for political change, then I'm happy to have helped." He finished with an ironic dip of his head.

Teddy bustled away and returned, handing white flowers with pins to John, Rodney, Dave, and Jeannie. He said, "We're ready whenever you are. Dave and Jeannie can lead the way down the aisle in the sitting room and step to each side of the rug at the front. Then the happy couple enters to the wedding march, and it's simple from there. You have the rings?"

John and Rodney nodded, having taken each other shopping the afternoon before. Teddy left to herd everyone else to the sitting room. Rodney turned to John with wide eyes and held out his flower in shaking hands.

-

Rodney's hands had started shaking the moment Teddy handed him the flower. His heart was racing too, but he could hear that John's was calm and steady. As John pinned his own flower, Rodney turned to him and lifted his hands silently. John took the flower and pinned it on Rodney. Then he took both of Rodney's hands in his and asked quietly, "Are you okay? You still want to do this, right?"

Rodney nodded but couldn't stop shaking. John pulled him into an embrace. The stiff clothing surrounding each of them made the touch unfamiliar, but the smell and sound of John were soothing, and Rodney felt his anxiety and his senses calming down. "I want it. It just seems so impossible."

"Messing with what's impossible is another of my specialties."

Music began to play and John nodded to Dave and Jeannie to start walking. Then John turned back and kissed Rodney deep enough to leave him slightly dazed, and no longer shaking, as they walked down the aisle to the jazziest rendition of the wedding march Rodney had ever heard.

Then the piano player, who'd jazzed them in, stepped in front of them and began to intone what sounded like a fairly standard wedding ceremony, not that Rodney was focusing on the words. His awareness was mostly on John and the people in the room. Jeannie's heartbeat behind him was speeding almost as fast as his, and it only then occurred to Rodney that she was the only woman at their wedding.

Luckily, John had to say "I do" first, so Rodney was paying attention when his turn came. When they kissed, John pushed his tongue right into Rodney's mouth and Teddy Junior gave a loud whistle that might have caused Rodney to zone if he wasn't right there with John filling all his senses. He almost missed hearing Bertard whisper, presumably to Woolsey, "Still think it's just a political marriage?"

-

After the wedding, they drove away in a rental car. Rodney hadn't told anyone but Jeannie where they were going, not even John.

John insisted on driving though, so Rodney told him when to turn. He kept a hand somewhere on John's thigh and made a game of gauging John's distraction by listening to his heartbeat and respiration. He thought John might get tired of his touch or annoyed with being teased or not knowing where they were going, but John just kept driving and occasionally smiling at him.

Rodney kept up a narrative about Canada and the things they passed. "…Oh, and that's Harvey's. I never cared much for their hamburgers, but they had really good fries when I was little. Everyone makes a big deal about poutine being Canadian, that's fries with gravy and cheese curds, but no one I knew liked them. I liked fries from Harvey's. I'd found my mom up late one evening watching a movie with a giant invisible rabbit named Harvey, and I curled up on the couch with her and fell asleep. I think that was the only time that ever happened, and I've liked the name Harvey ever since. Do you have any names you particularly like?"

"Isn't it a bit soon to discuss baby names?" John smirked and Rodney squeezed his knee.

"Wait, pull in here. I wanted to show you this."

John pulled into the parking lot of the elementary school without question and parked. "Okay, maybe it's stupid, but over there," Rodney pointed at a window, "Is where I first kissed a boy."

John leaned over and kissed him. "So now you're trying to make me jealous?"

Rodney smiled and stroked up and down John's thigh, enjoying the way John's heart sped up and they both knew it but pretended not to notice. "I built a nuclear bomb for my grade six science fair. Derek wanted to see it, and when I snuck him in before the room opened, he kissed me."

John squeezed Rodney's knee and stared at his face. "You know, I think I am a little jealous."

"Well, that was the best part of the science fair for me, because after that the CIA came, and it caused all sorts of trouble, not like I'd even tried to buy radioactive material. But I was really careful after that. I already knew I was a Sentinel, and I couldn't risk anyone finding out. I thought I could live my whole life without anyone knowing, if I was careful."

"I'm sorry," John said.

"I didn't mean for this to be sad." Rodney started waving his free hand around. "My idea for our one night honeymoon was that I'd share some of Canada with you, since we ended up getting married right by where I grew up. I thought with us going off to Atlantis and only having known each other a few days, it might be good to have some common points of reference."

"Yep, you're a genius."

"I guess it's morbid, but I wish I could have gone to your father's wake with you. In a purely selfish way, I know, I feel like there's so much about you and your life so far that I need to catch up on. And you don't talk as much as I do; then again, most people don't."

"What do you want to know?"

"What was your brother saying about your terms for the inheritance displaying political instincts?"

"Huh, I thought you were too stressed to catch that."

"I function well under stress."

"Yeah, I bet you do." John kissed beside his eye. Rodney had never been kissed there before and decided he liked it.

"Even though my dad and I hadn't spoken in years," John said, "He left me a quarter interest in his company. I don't want his money, and my brother doesn't need me in his way. I've never played the connections or power games like Dave and my dad did, and I wouldn't know how to ask Dave to do anything like that. But I set it up so half my inheritance, an eighth of the company, reverts to his control when a certain law changes, and the rest when a second law changes. So Dave can leave it alone and see if and when politics in the US swings in a way that benefits him, or he can exert whatever sort of power he has to push forward the political changes I specified."

"You let people think you're stupider than you are." Rodney rolled his fingers on top of John's thigh. "I'm going to have to watch for that."

John slid a couple fingers from Rodney's ear to his jaw, and John pulled him in for a long, long kiss that left them both panting and breathless in the car.

"Was that because I sort of complimented you or because you wanted to distract me?"

John licked his lips, his pupils too wide, and whatever his reasons, he was right there with Rodney, and it would be really nice to get to the hotel already and be naked. Rodney swallowed and asked anyway. "What laws did you specify for change?"

John looked away and then looked back but let his hand slide away. "The law about Sentinel tattoos and the law about someone else signing for Sentinels' employment, housing, or education opportunities."

Rodney swallowed, because he'd intuited the gist of what John had probably done, but the way John would barely admit it made him even harder to understand. "You weren't going to tell me?"

"I wasn't going to hide it from you, just, what's the point in bringing it up?" John said the words calmly enough, like it was no big deal. But there was a little more tension in the muscles under Rodney's hand and a slight smell of fight or flight, adrenaline and hormones. It could almost have been a sexual response, but it wasn't, and Rodney thought he'd better learn to tell the difference.

Then a few pieces came together in Rodney's brain, and he realized John was insecure. Sheppard had been told by Radek and Rodney both that he should have known more about Sentinel laws. His brother implied that John had never been considered politically savvy. Now John had done something clever but unusual based on his own understanding and judgment, and he seemed unsure of whether Rodney would approve and think he did well.

"John," Rodney took John's hand and stroked with his thumb as he met John's eyes. "I think that might be the nicest, cleverest thing I could imagine anyone doing in your situation. And while I might be a genius and sometimes belittle what you know or think, I want you to tell me stuff like this. I want you to do things I wouldn't think of, and I think you're strong enough to make your own decisions even knowing I might be rude or argumentative about it. I would hate it if you didn't feel you could tell me whatever you do or if you changed and didn't do things I'd never think of, just because I might not appreciate your decisions."

John made a noise between a laugh and a snort, "I thought we'd be having sex by now."

Rodney ran a finger along the inside seam of John's pants, all the way to his crotch, and John shivered, but he was only half hard. He might have just reached his limit on talking.

"I'll try, Rodney. I haven't done especially well at relationships in the past, and I've been told I don't talk about myself enough. I'll tell you this though, I'm less intimidated by your genius than by how much I want to make this work with you."

They were both silent for a moment, then John said, "Unless you have some sort of kink for cars or school parking lots, I'd really like to go someplace with a bed now."

-

John pressed Rodney to the wall and pushed up against him as soon as they reached their hotel room. "Nice hotel," he said, and then he kissed him and started trying to remove Rodney's tux. When his hands reached bare skin, he went straight for Rodney's nipples and the scientist groaned and rutted against him. "Oh good," John said, "I thought the foreplay the whole drive here might only be affecting me."

"I was listening to your body's responses. It was so hot. Now, help me get you out of that uniform. I swear I'm going to tear it otherwise."

They both started taking off their own clothes while watching each other. It wasn't much of a strip show, but neither of them needed much.

"What would you think of soapy shower sex now and making things slow and perfect later."

"Are your Sentinel senses objecting to my smelly, sweating self?"

Rodney laughed so hard his face turned red, but as he pulled off his trousers he was fully and painfully erect. "There is nothing about you that I object to at this moment. I think I could come in under two minutes from what you do for any one of my senses."

John had all his clothes hung over a chair by that point, and he took Rodney by the hand and dragged him toward the shower. It turned out the bathroom was huge and included a Jacuzzi, a shower with dual shower heads, and a separate toilet area. He got Rodney into the shower and adjusted the water to what he thought was a reasonable temperature for both of them. Then he quickly unwrapped a bar of plain white soap and ran it all over Rodney's body while he whispered exactly what he wanted to do to Rodney later. "I want to take what you did to my thigh while driving and try that on each part of your body. I want to have tickle fights and lick food off the edge of your mouth when you don't know it's there. I want to stroke you right here," John petted along a muscle on Rodney's neck that had induced shivers and squirming before, and sure enough, it did again. "And right here." He slid a soapy slick hand between Rodney's ass cheeks and Rodney buck into him hard enough to force John up against the shower wall. Then Rodney's soapy hands were sliding up and down John's sides and across his nipples. Rodney's mouth was devouring his, and they were both thrusting into the slickness between then. John slid one finger into Rodney's hole and he shivered, losing his rhythm for a moment. Then Rodney was rutting against him again, pushing their cocks together in front and pressing down onto his finger in back. John managed to add a second finger and the pace became faster and harder until they both came and then slumped bonelessly to the shower floor.

"Want to shift to the Jacuzzi?" John asked.

"As soon as I have legs to get there."

They helped each other up and turned off the shower. John gathered two glasses of water and their complimentary fruit bowl while Rodney adjusted the jets and water temp on a Jacuzzi that could have held four. They ended up on one side together, with Rodney reclining against John, wedged between his legs. John held a grape in front of Rodney's mouth and waited.

"You're not going to peel them for me?" Rodney asked.

"Is that even a real thing?" John rolled the grape back and forth in his fingers, and Rodney watched how reflected light traced along it, making his mouth water.

"It's real but kind of disgusting. Go ahead and feed me grapes, peel and all."

"What a risk taker." John slid the grape into Rodney's mouth and brushed a finger along the lower lip. "No citrus in the basket. I assume you warned them ahead of time."

Rodney nodded, and his hair tickled John's ear.

"So how'd you choose the hotel?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes, I'm guessing there's a story, and I'm counting to see how many grapes it takes to tell it." With that he fed Rodney another and himself a first grape.

Rodney shifted against him and said, "When I played my first solo piano recital, it was in an auditorium just across the street from here. It went well. My piano teacher didn't tell me my music lacked soul until a couple of years later, and I still thought he liked me at that point."

John fed Rodney another grape and kissed behind his ear.

"Anyway, both of my parents came, and Jeannie was there in some dress that poofed out as wide as she was tall, well, almost. I swear I can still picture her in ponytails and that puffy green dress. My dad and I were in suits. My mother's dress was black. For that day, we all got along, and afterward we went to the fancy restaurant downstairs in this hotel. My parents had wine while Jeannie and I had ice cream sundaes."

Another grape for each of them, and Rodney said, "Only a three grape story, but I think it was the happiest day of my life."

John felt a little sad at that, but he nuzzled Rodney's neck then said, "I'm glad you brought me here."

"Tell me something you like, John."

"Ferris wheels."

"We have one of those. We could go later if you want."

John squeezed him and offered another grape. "Football, flying, anything that goes over two hundred miles an hour. And you."

Rodney turned his head and kissed him. It was a sweet kiss, an appreciation that tasted of grapes.

"What do you want to do tonight?"

"Lots of sex."

Rodney laughed, and John buried his head in Rodney's shoulder.

"I don't think you realize how crazy I am for you," John said. "I think Radek's planning some big party when we get back to Atlantis, and I'm going to have to share you, and do my job, and I want you to find yourself a place with the scientists and the gate team and everyone. But sometimes I don't know how I can stand to let you out of my sight. I don't know if that's a Guide thing or just that this is so new. I want to touch you all the time, and I am so horny for you, it's ridiculous. I want you in every position. I want you on me and in me and splitting me open. And I've never felt like this before."

Rodney pulled John's arms tight against his chest. Then he was splashing and squirming until they were repositioned and Rodney was straddling John's lap. They were both half hard again, and Rodney started kissing John's mouth but drifted to other parts of his face and neck.

"I'm so glad you said all that," Rodney muttered. "I thought maybe it was just me not having been with anyone in years and being a Sentinel and finding a Guide and wanting to be with you all the time. Maybe the bonding stuff is real, and maybe there's more to all this than I want to admit. I'm just so glad it's you. I want you and I trust you, I have this need to trust you, and I couldn't stand feeling this way about anyone else, but somehow with you it's okay." Rodney was panting and licking at John's neck, and John didn't think it should be sexy, but it was making him rock hard again. "And I think you said you want me to fuck you, and I want that so much, but I've never done it before, and I want to do it geniusly, amazingly well for you."

"You couldn't do it any other way. Let's go find a bed."

Each of them took a towel, and somehow between kisses and fondling they dried themselves and each other off. On their way to the bed, John grabbed the lube he'd packed in an outside pocket of his bag, anticipating the need for easy access. Then he tossed the covers to the end of the enormous bed and pulled Rodney down on top of him. "Take your time. Do anything you want. I can prep myself, or I can tell you if you need to know anything, but honestly, I don't think you can help but be amazing at this."

Then they were kissing and Rodney's hands were everywhere. John remember what Rodney had said about being turned on just sensing John's reactions in the car, and John thought his biggest problem would be not coming in the next twenty seconds.

Soon John realized that his Sentinel lover could not only play him like a piano, but he could tell when John was close to coming and ease off a bit. That seemed like a good thing the first couple times, but soon John was writhing and Rodney hadn't even pushed a finger inside him.

"Lube, now," John said. He saw Rodney squeeze hard at the base of his own cock to keep from coming at that, and it made the situation seem a little closer to fair.

Then Rodney's slick fingers were sliding around John's hole and setting off flares behind John's eyes. He shifted and maneuvered and tried to force a finger to slide inside him, but Rodney anticipated him every time, and it was as close to having a psychic lover as John ever wanted to get. He was pretty sure that if he begged or demanded, Rodney would do what he wanted, but it wasn't like Rodney couldn't read it all over him already. His Sentinel clearly thought he could do better, and for the first time in John's life, he let go and decided he was happy to try it Rodney's way.

He fisted his hands in the sheets and let himself moan, but he didn't say anything.

-

Rodney saw John stop fighting for control, saw him lie back and groan like he could come  
just from this, but Rodney knew by smell and touch that his lover wasn't right on the edge now. Something in Rodney wanted to push them both, see how much he could make each of them feel and how long they could wait. It should make it more spectacular at the end. Waiting also meant he had longer to appreciate an incredibly sexy, naked John sprawled across the sheets with a look of nearly uncontrolled bliss on his face.

Rodney let one finger dip in, just to the first knuckle and John's cock twitched, as if it could get any harder. Then Rodney stroked in and out of John, and John's neck arched but he didn't push back. Rodney felt John's body draw closer and closer to orgasm, but when Rodney slowed down and kept either of them from going over, John just quivered and smiled, as if he appreciated what Rodney was doing and wanted it, too.

Rodney slid in a second finger, thrusting, exploring, offering varied degrees of attention to John's prostate. John had his eyes closed, and it was like he accepted everything and floated on waves of pleasure. If John had been the Sentinel, Rodney might have worried he'd zoned out, but no, the momentary expressions passing across John's face showed he was aware of every motion Rodney made. That got to Rodney on some primal level and he started licking and nibbling on John's thighs and belly, tasting his sweat and arousal. John groaned and clutched and accepted it all.

Finally, Rodney pushed in a third finger, and he knew neither of them could keep this up all night. He wished he knew a little better how to tell if John was ready. He was all warm shuddering smoothness along Rodney's fingers. Rodney tried bending and spreading his fingers and twisting around the opening. John seemed to love it all. Both of their cocks were leaking, and Rodney lubed his up and slid it in.

Then Rodney had to stop. He hadn't been prepared for the warmth and pressure of being inside John. It was overwhelming and almost made him come right then. John's body seemed to relax and pull Rodney's cock farther in until he was buried deep and every nerve ending in his body seemed to be firing. Rodney slid back and forth slowly, wanting to stay in that moment forever. He'd never imagined anything feeling so good but also so right. He realized all his senses were saturated with John, and he felt completely comforted, completely safe, for the first time he could remember.

Eventually, Rodney couldn't help but speed up. He felt John rising to the brink with him and thought John would come just from having him inside. But Rodney wanted to hold John both outside and in and every way he could. So when they were both almost there, he grabbed John's cock and kissed him on the mouth.

John came immediately and the rhythm stroked Rodney's cock inside him, so he was coming just a few moments after. Rodney kept moving until both of them were completely drained. Then pulled out and used a corner of sheet to clean them before pulling the rest up to use for covers.

John's expression was beyond blissed out, but his eyes were open and Rodney kissed the place just beside the near one.

Tomorrow, they were going to Atlantis.


End file.
